Bhubaneswar: While people were dismayed when 2019-batch Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) topper Aswini Kumar Panda was caught taking Rs 15,000 bribe, a young Assam Civil Service (ACS) officer has now found herself at the centre of a major corruption scandal.
Nupur Bora, who joined the Assam Civil Service in 2019 and currently serving as Circle Officer of Goroimari in Kamrup district, has been arrested for allegedly possessing wealth disproportionate to her income.
A team of officials from the Chief Minister’s Special Vigilance cell seized Rs 92 lakh in cash and jewellery worth nearly Rs 1 crore during a raid at her residence in Guwahati. Another Rs 10 lakh in cash was also recovered from her rented house at Barpeta.
Vigilance teams also raided the home of Lat Mandal Surajit Deka, an alleged close aide of Bora, suspecting that the two had acquired multiple land properties during her posting there.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the officer was under Assam Vigilance scanner for allegedly transferring Hindu-owned land to “suspicious individuals” of “doubtful nationality” in exchange of money when posted in the Barpeta revenue circle. “We have been conducting a discreet inquiry for the last six months. She stayed at a tourist lodge last night. A search was conducted when she returned home this morning and a large amount of money was seized. We have taken strict action against her. There is widespread corruption in revenue circles across minority-dominated areas of the state,” he added.